The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. Games full of bugs that players loved anyway
Table of Contents
Now that we've gotten to pick a little bit on The Witcher 3, it's time for another game widely regarded as a classic RPG production from this decade that could have used a few extra days, weeks, or even months of development. On the other hand, we all know, especially now, after the premiere of the new Fallout installments, that there is no such thing as a Bethesda game devoid of serious shortcomings. It is hard to find another publisher who has elevated the "IT's not a bug, it's a feature" philosophy to the rank of art in such a spectacular way.
On the other hand, few players would complain if they were denied the dubious pleasure of watching textures materialize in bizarre places, opponents stuck inside walls, steeds climbing almost vertical slopes or characters and animals walking in the air. However, these bugs are not particularly impressive. How about an inaccuracy in the code that was able to shrink characters to the size of a pygmy and turn a regular chicken into a colossus? Or about a giant strike sending our hapless protagonist into the stratosphere? Say what you want, if they try enough, Bethesda can turn their shortcomings into something truly spectacular.
But it was not, of course, the shocking shortcomings that made Skyrim so popular, that to this day other games can only dream of appealing to that many players. It's just a piece of art with so much content that it would be foolish to pick on little things like shopkeepers turning a blind eye to thefts after you put pots on their heads. With all its arsenal of idiotic bugs, the fifth part of The Elder Scrolls series is simply a hell of a good game – one that cannot be matched by any other of Bethesda's productions.
Even a few years after the premiere, some of Skyrim's glaring bugs remained nupatched by Bethesda. Luckily to the community surrounding the game, the developers provided fans with a variety of modding tools. And while most home-grown developers have used them to turn their steed into an even more outlandish version of Tommy Wiseau (if at all possible), some have decided to go for what the authors themselves should have done in the first place. Skyrim had a very large amateur patch, the work on which was overseen on a fan forum. Let's just hope Bethesda developers don't think all the bugs will be patched by the players.
